


stuck together (with you)

by planetundersiege



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Anger Management, Apologies, AtLA, Bonding, F/M, Gift Exchange, Handcuffed Together, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Talking, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000, stuck together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27161260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/planetundersiege/pseuds/planetundersiege
Summary: After Katara started five fights with Zuko in a week, Aang handcuffs them together to sort out their problems.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9
Collections: Fic In A Box





	stuck together (with you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [firelord65](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firelord65/gifts).



Katara let out a frustrated groan as she heard the click of the handcuffs getting locked, while Aang took the key. She hated this, and as she tried to take a step forward and protest, she suddenly remembered the other person stuck together with her, Zuko. As she had walked towards Aang, she had practically pulled the firebender with her against his will, causing him to almost fall over, and into her, making her even madder than before about this entire thing.

“Aang, this is so stupid.” she said before she groaned again, and saw how Zuko stood up and managed to balance. She hoped neither would fall again. The annoyance could really be heard in her voice, she had a lot of plans for today and they couldn’t be ruined by this thing. “You can’t just stick us together like this and then walk away!”

  
“Yes I can Katara, and I will.”

“Ugh, this is so unfair, I have things to do!”

“Well, I have things to do too.” she suddenly heard Zuko say, and she looked back at him, groaning again. “But so far you’re the one complaining, don’t forget you’re not the only one affected by this.”

“Shut up Zuko, I’m fighting with Aang right now, not you.”

“And that’s the problem Katara.” Aang said. “You said “I’m fighting with Aang  _ now _ , not you” and that was intentional. The two of you have been fighting five times this week about tiny things like food preferences and blowing things way out of proportions. And everyone around is actually starting to get really annoyed, especially Sokka, so to help you make up I decided to handcuff you together and I will let you go when you’ve made up. You two are really good friends and I know it, so I think this will make you talk and solve whatever issues you two might have at the moment.”

“Ugh Aang, please, this is not the time for your games, I  _ really _ have important things to do today.”

“Then you should have thought about that before you flooded Zuko’s room with water.” he said. “Things have consequences, anyway, I’ll leave you to it and I’ll be back in about an hour and a half to check on you. See you and have fun.” the avatar said with a smile on his face. He waved, and Katara could clearly hear how he locked the door, leaving her and Zuko not only handcuffed, but trapped in this tiny room to talk things out.

She let out a sigh and used her free hand to touch her forehead, saying goodbye to her plans to have lunch with Toph.

“Ugh, sometimes he can be a bit much.” she said out loud.

  
“I know, but he’s doing what he thinks is the best.” Zuko answered. “I’m sorry I managed to get us into this situation, especially since you had plans. Well, I have plans too but I didn’t know you had plans, or that Aang thought that it was so bad that we needed to be cuffed together. It took me by surprise too. And sorry for fighting to begin with, even if it’s way too late to say sorry now since we’re here. Well, you know what I mean. So, I’m sorry.”

Katara just nodded, not really wanting to talk right now. But she understood what Zuko meant, and that he was giving her an honest apology, he always managed to start to ramble and repeat himself during them, and his lisp got more prominent.

They just sat in silence for a few minutes, in the middle of the room without speaking or moving. All Katara did was to look down at the red carpets on the floor with the Fire Nation's insignia. She decided to close her eyes and just breathe. A long time ago Aang had taught her that breathing slowly calmed people down, and she knew it worked and that she needed it.

As her eyes was closed and all she saw was darkness, she forgot where she was and who she was handcuffed to, and just began to count in her head, all the way to fifty and her body did feel a bit calmer than before, making her rethink everything that had happened with Zuko over the past few days and all of their excessive fighting. Sure, all friends fought from time to time, but this was over the top, and she knew it.

She had just been in a pretty bad mood in general, and Zuko had just unfortunately been the person closests to her during all of that. She knew it wasn’t right, and began to feel bad as the anger was replaced with shame and embarrassment.

She broke the silence.

“Actually, you don’t need to apologize. All of this was my fault. I know this isn’t a valid excuse, but I’ve just been in a really bad mood or no reason and my whole body just wanted to let off some steam and be angry at someone. You were sadly just the person near me, and when I started a fight and you got confused and raised your voice, i just kept getting angrier and it quickly grew out of proportion and I became furious for no reason other than to be mad and scream at someone. And after the fight, it was just so easy to come back and start another one because you also got mad when I screamed at you.” she said. “I’m so sorry I took it this far, and I’m so sorry that I flooded your room out of pettiness. I promise I will help you repair everything and I’ll bend out all the water from your things so they won’t get damaged. I was a jerk. You’re the fire lord and I know you have important things to attend, but now you’re stuck here with me because I was dumb.”

It felt good to get that out of her chest and for Katara to do what was actually right. The anger at Zuko was completely gone now, and it just made her think more about herself, it was a wonder that Zuko still let her be in the palace after all of this and she was grateful for his friendship. She never wanted to lose touch with him, he was such an important part of life, and she knew that if she stopped talking to anyone of her friends, Zuko would be the one that made her feel utterly hopeless. He was that important to her and she couldn’t see her life without him.

“It’s fine Katara, I forgive you.” he said, and finally she turned around to face him and look him in the eyes. It was a sincere look and no forced “I forgive you” just for the sake of it. She could tell, and that made her so relieved. His body language was no longer tense, but relaxed, and it finally felt like she was just beside a friend again. No uncomfortable feelings left in the air after all the arguing, and she couldn’t be more grateful for that.

“Thanks Zuko, you have no idea how much that means to me.”

“It’s fine. Yes, you might have been a bit grumpy, but I’m not gonna judge. I understand you completely, sometimes you simply get angry for no reason and that’s that. I was like that all the time when I still had a problem with my anger issues, I was even way more extreme than you. I’m just happy we talked about this and aren’t enemies.” he said. “I was so afraid for a while you simply hated me.”

“You know I would never hate you Zuko, you mean too much to me. And I promise I’ll work on my anger.”

“And you mean a lot to me to Katara.”

It felt great to hear him say that, Katara’s brain finally registering that Zuko wasn’t mad at her and that he could let it go so easily. That their friendship wasn’t ruined in any way and that they could continue without any awkwardness.

She raised her arms, ready to hug him when she suddenly heard him let out a “woah” sound, his own arm getting raised with her motions. Right, handcuffs.

“Sorry.” she said. “I was just going to give you a hug and forgot.”

“Okay, let’s just use our free sides to hug.”

They did, and Zuko’s warmth felt sweet and put her in a better mood. As they parted, she saw how he was smiling at her.

“Guess Aang’s handcuff trick actually worked.”

“Guess so, but I’m not in the mood to stay locked in this room for… how much longer was it?”

“I think he left us about twenty to thirty minutes ago, so it should be awhile.”

“I’m  _ not _ being locked in here for that long.”

“You want us to break out of here, use me to hunt down Aang and then force him to unlock us?”

“That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard. If you set fire to the door I’ll stop it when there’s a hole big enough for us to get out. Then when we find Aang there’s no way he won’t get us out of this thing, I know EXACTLY how to intimidate him.”

“Deal, you’re an evil mastermind.”

“I prefer being called smart, but thank you.”


End file.
